South Summit is the Leading Innovation Global Platform focused on business opportunities and disruptive trends, that gathers together the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The beginnings
In 2012 Spain Startup, together with IE Business School, saw opportunities for entrepreneurs at a time when the crisis had hit hard. We believed that entrepreneurs would be the driving force to a revived economy. With this belief, we created a platform to help showcase the best startup talent and creativity from the South to the rest of the world, where handshakes and introductions are quickly transformed into deals on the table.
Where innovation meets business
We are living in interesting times. The world is changing at a rapid pace. Political, social, technological, financial instability is all around and, while opportunity surrounds us, not everyone is able to seize it. We are the leading Innovation Global Platform which connects top innovators from Southern Europe and Latin America to the world´s most powerful investors, and corporations, who are.
Team

María Benjumea
FOUNDER AND CEO
From the beginning of her professional path, Maria Benjumea has always been linked to the development of Business Projects. In 1979, she founded Taller de Arte; followed by the creation of Círculo de Progreso in 1982, which turned into Infoempleo, where she was CEO until it’s acquisition in 2009 and president until 2012 when she founds Spain Startup.
- Vice-president of Círculo de Empresarios from 2012 to 2015
- Gold Medal for Merit at Work in 2016
- Senate of Spain Award for Professional Career in 2019